State to fund Tohoku plant building

The government plans to create a new subsidy program to support and encourage companies planning to construct new plants in disaster-hit areas in Tohoku, sources said.

The government will set aside tens of billions of yen under the fiscal 2013 state budget starting April 1 for these subsidies, the sources said Thursday. The program, which will remain in place until fiscal 2015, is designed to encourage corporate reconstruction in areas devastated by tsunami from the Great East Japan Earthquake, or wrecked by the temblor itself. Recipients are required to create a certain number of local jobs.

The subsidies are expected to cover up to two-thirds of the costs of building new factories in areas previously designated as no-go zones around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, which suffered three core meltdowns in March 2011. In coastal areas flooded by tsunami, up to half of the construction costs will likely be paid via the program.